WHO WE ARE
The California Mathematics Project at Sacramento State (CMPSS) is a professional network of educators dedicated to engaging students in productive struggle, sense-making, collaborative reasoning, and clear communication of thinking and solutions. We support teachers to build procedural fluency on a base of conceptual understanding, and to strategically select tasks and contexts for application that connect ideas and provide access for all students. We inspire teachers to reflect after each lesson: “Who did the math thinking today?”
Deb Stetson
Project Director
Deb Stetson is the Project Director of the Sacramento State Mathematics Project. For the Quantitative Reasoning Courses, she has been a member of the writing team and helps coordinate and lead professional learning. In her work at CSUS she partners with professors to develop and lead professional learning activities for teachers. Deb taught high school for 13 years at Roseville High School and left the classroom to do this work with teachers in 1999. She has taught future mathematics teachers at CSUS. Her favorite aspect of this work is being in teachers’ classrooms working with their students--partnering with them to create opportunities for students to have those “aha” moments. A favorite question to ponder after teaching is "Who did the mathematics thinking today?" When she isn’t teaching math, Deb enjoys being outside gardening in the yard with Amelia, Pepper and Scratch, her chickens.
Kim Elce
Principal Investigator
Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Elce is dedicated to K-16 mathematics education inspiring both teachers and students to think creatively and collaboratively in order to solve problems. She uses questions to challenge and spark students to wonder and reason for themselves.
Scott Farrand
Faculty Advisor
Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Farrand founded the Math Project at Sacramento State in 1999. His approach to teaching mathematics is to turn a lesson into something puzzling, which intrigues the learners. He then guides them to find connections between ideas and to reason for themselves.
Debbie Dennick
Program & Event Manager
Debbie Dennick is a Sac State alumni that never made her way off campus. She started managing events for the Center for Mathematics and Science Education in 2008, "just until I graduate" and hasn't looked back since.
Heidi Trapp
Administrative Support Coordinator, Sacramento State
Heidi Trapp began working for the center for Mathematics and science Education in 2016, after she moved to Sacramento from the Midwest (Boiler up!). She handles finances, hiring, Deb's run-on sentences, and everyone's food leftovers.